State BJP Spokesperson Prof. Virender Gupta questioned the seriousness of planning group of the Congress on Jammu and Kashmir, headed by former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. He said that the high level policy and planning group of the Congress which is visiting how, was constituted nearly five months before, but it did not feel its concern about the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir in the last five months. He added that even though it thinks its fundamental right to criticize the Govt. of India for its policies regarding Jammu & Kashmir but the team and any of its Central leader did not bother to take stock of the situation and provide their valuable suggestion to the government in retrieving the situation and said that instead of playing political gimmick, it should play a positive role for the interest of the state and the country.
The Spokesperson blamed the Congress party for the present situation in Jammu and Kashmir which kept the Jammu & Kashmir issue alive and burning because of its wrong policies since the accession of the state with India. It remained in power both at the Centre and in Jammu and Kashmir State for the most of the times: it was in power in the state in 1990 when situation in the valley had taken an ugly turn when KPs and other minorities suffered a mass exodus and it was in power from 2002 to 2014 in State and also at the Centre before 2014 for ten year; but it failed to resolve the issue.
Prof. Virender Gupta asked the Congress party to clear its stand on Article 35A and said that it is a divided house on the issue. He added that Kashmir leadership of the party supports 35A whereas its leaders in Jammu province oppose continuation of 35A and Article 370 in Indian constitution, however the leadership at the Centre is confusing the people by speaking in different tones on the issue. The Congress party also needs to clear its stand on West Pakistan Refugee, on deporting of Bangladeshi and Rohingyas in Jammu province, instead of beating about the bush. Congress party needs also to clear its stand on the statements issued by some of its leaders on the Kashmir issue, who are supporting Azadi and autonomy for the valley, which include Mani Shankar Ayyar and even P.Chidambaram who is part of the visiting team. While taking on Gulam Nabi Azad on his statement, the spokesperson reminded Azad of the situation in J&K in 2008 when he was Chief Minister of the State and that of 2010 when Congress was sharing power with National Conference.
